Holders for cups, bottles, coffee pots, and other beverage containers are often used to free the surfaces to which they are mounted from the clutter associated with direct support of the beverage containers on the surface. In some instances, as with lawn chairs and golf carts, container holders provide the only means of reasonable support for open beverage containers. Such holders are also useful for preventing beverage containers from tipping and spilling their contents. In particular, passengers in automobiles and other vehicles frequently find container holders desirable for preventing spillage when the vehicle accelerates, stops, or turns or when the vehicle bounces due to various road conditions. A number of beverage container holders have been developed for specific applications, but these devices typically require tedious installation on either a vertical or horizontal surface. Often a bracket is secured both to the support surface of particular orientation and to the receptacle of the beverage container holder, thereby mounting the receptacle in place. Various hooks, clips, bolts and the like are used for attaching the bracket to the receptacle element, or to the support surface.
For example, the tumbler holder disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,879 is mounted to vertical support surfaces only. A bracket is fastened to the support surface with screws. The receptacle for the tumbler, is held by a yoke connected to the bracket.
The container carrier disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,250 may be held to different types of support by using several dissimilar kinds of mounting devices. A bracket may be used to mount the container carrier to a vertical surface with screws. A clip is used to mount the invention disclosed to tubing. The belt clip may be used to mount the invention substantially vertically to objects such as belts or golf bags.
Often the position of a particular container holder is limited by the orientation of the surface to which it is applied, and any repositioning of the holder is often a time consuming task.